livedaily interview with howie
Quite a good interview with Howie. There's another one with him coming up. More Howie pls!
LiveDaily Interview: Howie Dorough of Backstreet Boys
Howie Dorough's calendar is booked up clear into 2011. Between now and then, the Backstreet Boy and his mates--Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and A.J. McLean--plan to travel the world in support of their latest album, "This is Us," which hit stores yesterday (10/6).
"We just got back from Japan doing some promo," Dorough said during an interview with LiveDaily. "The album got released there last week and we were over there and in Singapore doing the Formula One race."
Some planned promo work was scrapped when group member Brian Littrell came down with the swine flu, but Dorough said the band will soon head to Los Angeles to finish rehearsals for a planned tour.
"This is Us" is the Backstreet Boys [ tickets ]' seventh studio album and features collaborations with a powerhouse suite of producers and songwriters, including T-Pain, Max Martin, RedOne, Soulshock and Karlin, Jim Jonsin and Claude Kelly.
Dorough talked to LiveDaily about the new album, working with T-Pain and the joy of in-ear monitors on tour.
LiveDaily: Tell me about the new album. Why did you decide to name it "This is Us"?
Howie Dorough: There's an album track called "This Is Us," which I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to co-write. The guys, when we were racking our brains thinking of names for the album, somebody said, "What about 'This is Us'? That's interesting." With this album, we feel like we kind of went back to what people really know of the Backstreet Boys, the sound of the pop/R&B with a little Euro-dance influence We felt this is what the Backstreet Boys are really known for. We went in this direction and "This is Us."
You alluded to the fact that you were able to co-write many other songs?
We actually did another song called "She's a Dream." It was a song that we did with T-Pain. We had a chance to work on that one as well as "Internationally." It was really, really great. We had an amazing time making this album. We put a wish list out there to work with some of the top producers, [and] we pretty much got 95 percent of those producers back. It was so awesome. We were just so blessed to hear that producers were excited about working with us..... We made an amazing album that we're really, really proud of.
What was it like to work with T-Pain?
T-Pain was awesome. First of all, he's a labelmate on Jive Records with us. He's so talented. We joked for awhile [that] he's got ADD. He's constantly working on one thing and he's [simultaneously] working on a beat in the background. His mind is going a 100 miles an hour He's amazing. He's like a musical genius.
Which producer do you think you learned the most from?
We worked the most with Jim Jonsin, who's really well known for T.I. and Soulja Boy, "Kiss Me Through the Phone." He's great writer. He's one of the ones I co-wrote "This is Us" with. I think us being with him, we were with him for about two-and-a-half weeks. We got very creative with him working on a bunch of stuff. "This is Us" was the only song on the album that we co-wrote with him. He has a couple other songs on there. One of them is a duet we did with Pitbull, called "Helpless." He's just such a great guy. He's very, very open minded. Very cool about writing with us. His beats are just unbelievable. RedOne was amazing. He's such a talented guy. We hadn't worked with him before but we found he was from Sweden. He had been following our career for many years, working with Max Martin and the Swedish camp over there. He's an amazing writer/producer. He's having great luck right now with Lady Gaga. You can tell why he's on such a hot streak because he's just so talented.
This is your seventh studio album. To what do you owe your longevity?
I'd say probably because we always write to raise the bar on the album. We're definitely not settling. We're trying to outdo ourselves from album to album and pushing the envelope. I think this record did that. I think we were able to push the envelope and really get out there and make a record that you can listen to from top to bottom. Hopefully, every song can be [a possible] single. I think that [is one reason], as well as us just trying to be very creative and artistic, not only when it comes to our records, but our shows, our performances on TV, as well as us just working as a great team together. We communicate very well. We definitely have our ups and downs. Overall, we work as a really, really great team. We all add something to the table.
Which single are you most proud of?
"Straight Through My Heart" was the first single. That's the one we did with RedOne, which I'm very proud of. I think it was a great first single. The second single is going to be "Bigger," which we just shot the video for in Japan. I think it's going to be a huge song. It's definitely a signature Backstreet Boys song. As soon as you hear the chorus and the verses, I think people are going to go "Backstreet Boys. That's what we know of them." I'm not exactly sure of the third single. There's so many great songs on there. We even have a hard time deciding because we hand-crafted each song and put so much time and effort into making the record. There's a good 12 singles that could be on there.
What can we expect from your shows when you tour the US?
We're gonna put an amazing show together. I think everybody's going to look back and say, "Ah, that's what we know the Backstreet Boys for." It's going to be a show very reminiscent of the "Millennium" or "Black and Blue"[tours] with a great stage production. We'll have four dancers out with us. We're going to have a couple surprises that I don't want to give away yet. But I think it's going to be definitely turning people's eye and ears and be like, "Wow, they did it again."
How do you keep your concentration with all the screaming in the background?
It's been a blessing we have those little in-ear monitors. Without those, I think our voices would be half damaged by now. I wonder how we did it before they came out. Those things have been a blessing to us. They help us save our voices but it's very flattering. What guy wouldn't want a bunch of screaming girls? We have some of the best fans all around the world.
LiveDaily Interview: Howie Dorough of Backstreet Boys
Howie Dorough's calendar is booked up clear into 2011. Between now and then, the Backstreet Boy and his mates--Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and A.J. McLean--plan to travel the world in support of their latest album, "This is Us," which hit stores yesterday (10/6).
"We just got back from Japan doing some promo," Dorough said during an interview with LiveDaily. "The album got released there last week and we were over there and in Singapore doing the Formula One race."
Some planned promo work was scrapped when group member Brian Littrell came down with the swine flu, but Dorough said the band will soon head to Los Angeles to finish rehearsals for a planned tour.
"This is Us" is the Backstreet Boys [ tickets ]' seventh studio album and features collaborations with a powerhouse suite of producers and songwriters, including T-Pain, Max Martin, RedOne, Soulshock and Karlin, Jim Jonsin and Claude Kelly.
Dorough talked to LiveDaily about the new album, working with T-Pain and the joy of in-ear monitors on tour.
LiveDaily: Tell me about the new album. Why did you decide to name it "This is Us"?
Howie Dorough: There's an album track called "This Is Us," which I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to co-write. The guys, when we were racking our brains thinking of names for the album, somebody said, "What about 'This is Us'? That's interesting." With this album, we feel like we kind of went back to what people really know of the Backstreet Boys, the sound of the pop/R&B with a little Euro-dance influence We felt this is what the Backstreet Boys are really known for. We went in this direction and "This is Us."
You alluded to the fact that you were able to co-write many other songs?
We actually did another song called "She's a Dream." It was a song that we did with T-Pain. We had a chance to work on that one as well as "Internationally." It was really, really great. We had an amazing time making this album. We put a wish list out there to work with some of the top producers, [and] we pretty much got 95 percent of those producers back. It was so awesome. We were just so blessed to hear that producers were excited about working with us..... We made an amazing album that we're really, really proud of.
What was it like to work with T-Pain?
T-Pain was awesome. First of all, he's a labelmate on Jive Records with us. He's so talented. We joked for awhile [that] he's got ADD. He's constantly working on one thing and he's [simultaneously] working on a beat in the background. His mind is going a 100 miles an hour He's amazing. He's like a musical genius.
Which producer do you think you learned the most from?
We worked the most with Jim Jonsin, who's really well known for T.I. and Soulja Boy, "Kiss Me Through the Phone." He's great writer. He's one of the ones I co-wrote "This is Us" with. I think us being with him, we were with him for about two-and-a-half weeks. We got very creative with him working on a bunch of stuff. "This is Us" was the only song on the album that we co-wrote with him. He has a couple other songs on there. One of them is a duet we did with Pitbull, called "Helpless." He's just such a great guy. He's very, very open minded. Very cool about writing with us. His beats are just unbelievable. RedOne was amazing. He's such a talented guy. We hadn't worked with him before but we found he was from Sweden. He had been following our career for many years, working with Max Martin and the Swedish camp over there. He's an amazing writer/producer. He's having great luck right now with Lady Gaga. You can tell why he's on such a hot streak because he's just so talented.
This is your seventh studio album. To what do you owe your longevity?
I'd say probably because we always write to raise the bar on the album. We're definitely not settling. We're trying to outdo ourselves from album to album and pushing the envelope. I think this record did that. I think we were able to push the envelope and really get out there and make a record that you can listen to from top to bottom. Hopefully, every song can be [a possible] single. I think that [is one reason], as well as us just trying to be very creative and artistic, not only when it comes to our records, but our shows, our performances on TV, as well as us just working as a great team together. We communicate very well. We definitely have our ups and downs. Overall, we work as a really, really great team. We all add something to the table.
Which single are you most proud of?
"Straight Through My Heart" was the first single. That's the one we did with RedOne, which I'm very proud of. I think it was a great first single. The second single is going to be "Bigger," which we just shot the video for in Japan. I think it's going to be a huge song. It's definitely a signature Backstreet Boys song. As soon as you hear the chorus and the verses, I think people are going to go "Backstreet Boys. That's what we know of them." I'm not exactly sure of the third single. There's so many great songs on there. We even have a hard time deciding because we hand-crafted each song and put so much time and effort into making the record. There's a good 12 singles that could be on there.
What can we expect from your shows when you tour the US?
We're gonna put an amazing show together. I think everybody's going to look back and say, "Ah, that's what we know the Backstreet Boys for." It's going to be a show very reminiscent of the "Millennium" or "Black and Blue"[tours] with a great stage production. We'll have four dancers out with us. We're going to have a couple surprises that I don't want to give away yet. But I think it's going to be definitely turning people's eye and ears and be like, "Wow, they did it again."
How do you keep your concentration with all the screaming in the background?
It's been a blessing we have those little in-ear monitors. Without those, I think our voices would be half damaged by now. I wonder how we did it before they came out. Those things have been a blessing to us. They help us save our voices but it's very flattering. What guy wouldn't want a bunch of screaming girls? We have some of the best fans all around the world.